The concession reflects an acceptance that the new Senate, to sit from July, will repeal the tax, which raised just $232 million last financial year despite being tied to $12.6 billion in new expenditure through benefits such as the schoolkids bonus.

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The Labor shift fuelled hopes in the government of a repeal before July but Mr Shorten's office dashed those, declaring Labor would continue to block a repeal in the Senate.

However, the Shorten shift has increased the likelihood that Labor will abandon any proposal to re-introduce a resources rent tax or for that matter a carbon tax, at the next election.

Labor recently broke ranks with the Greens, deciding not to support a disallowance motion against cancelling carbon credit auctions - a key part of the carbon price framework.

The government characterised that as the key moment when Labor's resistance to the new political reality crumbled.

Campaigning in Perth for the coming state-wide byelection on April 5, Mr Shorten said only that the ''principle'' of a profits based resources tax was sound, but its introduction had been destructive.

''Labor will over time have to reach out to the resources sector. We're looking forward to doing that over the next two years,'' he said.

But asked repeatedly if the MRRT was still backed by Labor, Mr Shorten opted to deflect.

Mr Shorten also appeared to change tack on border protection, dropping Labor's previously clear condemnation of the Abbott government's boat turn-around policy after more than 80 days of zero boat arrivals in Australia.

Asked during the interview on Sky News if Labor remained absolutely opposed to the turn-arounds, Mr Shorten said it was the lack of transparency that the opposition objected to.

146 comments

Labor needs to put someone with intelligence and backbone like Chris Bowen in charge. Shorten is proving a cheese eater.

Commenter

Tin

Date and time

March 13, 2014, 4:06AM

He wants the Union Jack in the corner of our flag and now he's dipping his lid to the mining lobby and the likes of Gena Rhinehart. Can we have another vote on the party Leader

Commenter

The Fenian

Location

Western Sydney

Date and time

March 13, 2014, 6:06AM

What's the difference between a Leftist ideologue like Shorten and a Conservative?

About 20 years of wisdom and real world understanding.

(I bet a few months more and Shorten will roll over on the Carbon Tax too).

Commenter

Gatsby

Date and time

March 13, 2014, 6:32AM

So what's new? Labor caved in to mining industry pressure to repeal the first, and much better, mining tax. And it's a win-lose situation when mining profits increase the value of the dollar and distort the rest of the economy.

Commenter

isteve

Date and time

March 13, 2014, 6:45AM

“What's the difference between a Leftist ideologue like Shorten and a Conservative?” – Gatsby

Very little. This is why you neo-cons calling Labor ‘the left’ is so hilariously ignorant. Labor have been moving to the right for many years and are now a centrist party. The only thing that makes Labor appear ‘left’ is that Abbott is soooo far right wing Tea-Party loony neo-con.

Commenter

QED

Date and time

March 13, 2014, 7:03AM

Gatsby: interesting opinion. However, don't you find it interesting that most of the Liberal MPs who promote public funding cuts left, right and centre, have done nothing than sucking the public teat in their careers. Their world understanding is not any better than Labor's, which is a problem. For starters, if the Libs had a superior 'world understanding' they would, like the rest of the world, acknowledge the risks of climate change. The only thing they're really good at understanding is how to please their masters and duping the population that they're doing the best for the country.

Commenter

Barnacle

Location

Sydney

Date and time

March 13, 2014, 7:05AM

Here's an idea for a Mining Tax that creates an incentive for job-creating value-adding mineral processing IN Australia BEFORE exporting the commodity: a Raw Material Export Tax (RMET).

If you export iron ore, you pay the RMET on the difference in value between the iron ore and the export revenue we would have got if it had been converted to iron or steel in Australia.

For one thing, this will make it more attractive for miners to set up mineral processing in Australia BEFORE exporting the finished metal, instead of just exporting dirt.

For another thing, that can pay the dole for all the Australian people who would have had Australian jobs making steel from iron ore, except that you're just shipping the dirt out to China.

Commenter

David Arthur

Location

Queensland

Date and time

March 13, 2014, 7:25AM

Get real, Shorten is only making these pathetic utterances to persuade people in WA to vote Labor in the Senate election. Once that is done it will be back to his negative best (or worst).

Commenter

Flanders

Date and time

March 13, 2014, 7:36AM

Correction Tin : a cheese nibbler, not a cheese eater.

Bill Shorten will soon have to choose which is the more important: a close relationship with the mining sector and the party's factional bosses or a relationship with the Australian people and party members.

He will never outdo Tony Abbott as the very, very best friend of the miners, nor of the rent seeker class in general. He will never master Tony's skill of saying different things to different people and yet never really lie. Bill has to decide whether to do some very hard work or toss it in now.

Commenter

Artemis

Date and time

March 13, 2014, 7:56AM

@ Flanders. I doubt that anyone will ever exceed Tony Abbott as being the most negative politician I have ever witnessed.